It should be single males in China who should be worried about not finding a wife because of the gender imbalance in the country. But despite the men outnumbering the women by several millions, some women remain single.
In western culture, it would not be a problem because older single women could say they choose career over family life. However, in China, there is so much pressure to marry and have a family that those who are not married by 27 – by choice or default – are called leftover women or shengnu.
Parents of such women hope to end their daughter’s perceived loneliness by going to open-air marriage markets where matches are made for both gender. The match-making is actually a sign of change in Chinese attitude because a few decades ago, marriages were fixed by the parents.
However, even if some of the older unmarried Chinese women or their parents do not exactly relish the idea of finding a spouse for their children like buying a commodity where questions asked before agreeing to a match include car or house ownership, employment status and salary of the male, reported Refinery29.
Despite the unpleasant experience, some families still go through it because parents consider it a form of disrespect if their children do not marry. Some of the singles, in turn, agree to the match-making because they are tired of being asked during Chinese New Year by their relatives when would they get hitched.
A commercial produced by SK-II, a skincare brand, attempts to change the outlook of families toward having unmarried older daughters. At the end of the commercial, the single ladies are seen going to the open-air marriage market but instead of their CV hanging for men to choose a future wife, their portraits are displayed.
The commercial ends with the women explaining it is a lifestyle choice they make and being unmarried should not be equated with being lonely. Instead of being called leftover woman, one of the ladies said, she is a power woman, reported Mashable.